Suggested new observing strategies for radar meteor observations

Abstract

Thorough understanding of the radio science aspects of radar meteors is required to correctly interpret observations, to inform modeling, and to design new observational modes. For example, it has been argued that meteoroid fragmentation is a dominant feature even in classical trail-echo radar results but how best to further explore this result? We suggest that common-volume radars operating at two or more nearby frequencies and/or that two, or more, radars viewing a common volume at widely differing aspect angles will yield vastly more information on the meteoroid processes giving rise to the mutual radar signatures. In particular, we present a modeling study of the head-and trail-echo signatures at 40, 45, and 50 MHz of variable trail-length and fragmenting-meteoroid radar meteors. This reveals that simple scattering scenarios, e.g., the head/trail-echoes from a few meteoroid fragments, evolve somewhat differently at the different frequencies in a decipherable manner. We also note the importance of multiple aspect angle common-volume radars and of combining optical and radar observations.